Sure, let's do this then. You can believe Whyte has a better resume than the others. It's a subjective sport. Crazy ol Ras Al ghul makes up unique names for his favorite fighters like Chagaev, aka akdjhsjjsajewa, and thinks they are the best hw's ever. But it's not founded in a rational argument. Byrd beat two ATGs, even if one was borderline shot and the other he was losing to in a bizarre win. Either one is better than all of Whytes resume. He beat a half dozen other top 10 hw's, and a ton of other top 50 hw's. No comparison whatsoever to Whyte. Peter had 4 wins over top tennish opponents, including 3 wins over top 5 ish opponents, and more than half a dozen others against good, top 50+ HWs. And he nearly beat Wlad. Whyte has three wins over top tennish opponents only one win against a top 5ish hw, and only two or three other top 50ish hws. It's absolutely no contest. Toney and Maskaev are much better wins than anything Whyte had to date, those three fights alone are probably better than his entire resume. Brewster beat Wlad, alone probably better than all of Whytes resume, even if it was an odd fight. He had three other fringe top 10 to 15 wins and a few other top 50ish wins, albiet sprinkled with some bad losses. Again, no contest. Krasniqi was a solid, fringe top 10 clear top 15 win. I agree Chagaevs best wins were against Valuev and Ruiz. But those two (close) wins are at least as good as Whytes wins against Parker and Chisora. He currently has more depth to his resume at the lower levels, and was a belt holder. Whyte could certainly catch up to him, but he's not there yet. Rahmans wins over Lewis and Sanders are, individually, better than Whyte entire resume. He had plenty of other top 10 to 15 wins too though, but it's just kinda silly to even go through them it's so imbalanced. Wilder has a win over two top 5 hw's, a draw against someone in the ATG discussion, and about a dozen other wins against solid top 50 opposition. Again, it's not even remotely comparable to Parker's one top 5ish win, one other fringe top 10 HW on his ledger, and only two other top 30ish wins in Browne and shot Helenius. You are sure crediting close wins over Parker and Chisora very high. They are by far Whytes best wins. And in both cases, their own best wins were Carlos Takam. His own best win by far was an old Tony Thompson, who you already made your distain for clear. Sorry, but Whyte is not remotely at the level of any of those fighters you mention (except Thompson who I agree with you doesn't quite have as good a resume as Whyte). Not by a rational evaluation.
Anyone would think Whyte walked through a list of ATGs the way he is spoken of on here. The guy beat old men that he was suppose to beat. The one young un he did fight and beat had to be officiated under a anything goes for the home fighter, no holds barred match and he still should have lost.
Why would Joshua fight Miller in the USA when he sells 50K+ seats in the UK? Schedule the fight on a Saturday afternoon and stack the card with a great matchup like Povetkin-Uysk + some more Americans on the undercard...that way Showtime will definitely air it and more Americans will tune in. I'm down for Klitschko vrs Whyte in any case!
Is this Vlad comeback confirmed? This is huge news for boxing and a tough fight for him to come back for. I think he is too old, even if he can beat some guys he is too old to take punishment.
Criticising Whytes title run is a bit rich when you consider your favourite fighter Deonkey fought non other than Nikolai Firtha, Scuba Scott and Jason Gavern prior to challenging the ATG heavyweight titlist, The Buffet King himself, Bermane Stiverne. Whyte has done more than any other current top ten Heavyweight to get a title shot, and yet Wilder don't want non of that smoke which is odd given how little a threat Whyte would be for a 7-8 million dollar purse.
Wlad is still in excellent shape. He trains regularly. Let's say it's his philosophic approach to life.